Challenge Accepted - Part 5
Ohno put his phone on the table, sighing. Nino still hadn’t replied to his text messages. He wanted to bring a bento for Nino tomorrow. But, he was worried if the man had any allergies. Thus, the text. Once Nino responded, he would ask if Nino had any preference. However, that was unlikely to happen. Nino seemed inclined to ignore his text.
Perhaps, Nino hadn’t seen the text. Ohno tried to assure himself.
“What is wrong with you?” Asked Jun curiously. The three of them had just finished their dinner and Jun immediately started to clean the table. “Bad first day?”
“Not really,” answered Ohno. The work and the environment had been good so far. The only bad thing was he made a wrong first impression on Nino. If he could, he wanted to go back to their first meeting so that he could stop his old self from saying those words to Nino. Instead, he wanted to tell Nino what a cute person he was.
“Tell us about your first day, Satoshi,” suggested Sho. “Have you met Aiba-chan?”
Ohno answered with a simple nod. “We’re in the same department. His cubicle is nearby,”
“That’s great!” exclaimed Jun. “How about his rude friend? Is he in the same department too?”
“Nino is not rude,” chided Ohno, defending his new colleague. It was childish to blame Jun for his disastrous first meeting with Nino but he couldn’t help it.
Jun was taken aback by his response. Maybe he didn’t expect Ohno would snap at him. Even Sho was surprised. But, Ohno didn’t say anything else, deciding to get back to his room. Maybe he should give Nino a call since the man didn’t respond to his text. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
“What is Nino’s favourite food?”
“Huh?”
The two of them tilted their heads, evidently surprised by his question. Indeed, it was the most random thing to ask. But, Ohno had his reason for asking something so random. Nino sometimes ate his lunch at the cafe owned by Jun and Sho. It might be impossible but one of them might know Nino’s favourite food or allergy.
“What a random question!” said Jun once he recovered from the shock. “What makes you think we know his favourite food?”
“He is your customer,” Ohno countered. “You will know what he orders or if he mentions any allergies,”
“As if I will remember,” scoffed Jun. “Besides, I work in the kitchen. I prepare the food so I don’t know what he orders. Why do you want to know?”
Ohno didn’t answer the man. He looked at Sho, hoping the other man would be able to help.
“He always orders the same thing,” answered Sho. Hearing that, Ohno smiled. If Nino ordered the same thing, it could mean that dish was his favourite.
A few minutes passed but Sho remained silent. He didn’t tell Ohno what the dish was.
“What is it?” Asked Ohno eagerly. He couldn’t wait anymore.
“Hmm… Why do you want to know?”
That was not the response he wanted. Sho was usually helpful. So, why wouldn’t he help Ohno without asking any questions?
“I just want to know,”
“Why?” Sho repeated the question. Ohno could only pout. He didn’t want to answer.
“Ne…” said Jun when it was apparent Ohno wouldn’t say anything. “Do you like the brat?”
“Don’t call him like that!” chided Ohno. He neither confirmed nor deny Jun’s suspicion. But, his response already gave Jun the answer.
“You like him?” said Jun, not bothering to hide his disdain. “What is wrong with you? He is…”
“What is wrong with you?” Ohno returned the words to Jun. He was just angry and mad at Jun for being a jerk towards Nino. Granted, he didn’t know what was going on between the two of them. But, he refused to think badly about Nino. Hence, he decided to believe that Jun was just being petty.
“Guys…”
Sho was about to interrupt but the sound of a phone ringing caught their attention. It was Ohno’s phone. He quickly picked up the call when Nino’s name appeared on the screen.
“Nino!” He said happily. “I didn’t expect your call. Did you see my…”
He trailed off when laughter came from the other end of the line, frowning. That was not Nino’s voice. He was certain of it.
“Hi, Ohchan,” said the voice. It was Aiba.
“What are you doing with Nino’s phone?”
It wasn’t polite to answer the phone like that. But, he was just frustrated to learn it wasn’t Nino who called him. Aiba, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind the tone he used. He was just laughing.
“I played Othello with Nino-chan,” said the man. Ohno frowned. He didn’t understand why Aiba suddenly talked about something irrelevant to his question.
“Okay…”
“He lost!” announced Aiba happily. Again, Ohno wasn’t sure how to respond. The game had nothing to do with him.
“Hmm, can you get to the point?”
“Oh, sorry. Nino often says I talk a lot,”
Well, Ohno certainly agreed with the statement.
“Okay, so about the game… we have a bet,” Aiba finally started explaining. However, Ohno still didn’t see why Aiba kept talking about the game. Unless…
“Is the bet about me?”
“Bingo!” came Aiba’s happy response. “We always do this kind of thing. Have a deal and then the loser would be punished. Do you want to know something funny? This morning, we also had another deal. It was about a dream…”
“Hmm… Aiba-chan…” Ohno decided to interrupt. The man seemed to be easily distracted. Some other time, maybe he would be interested to know about the dream. But, not right now. “Can we talk about the bet? So, Nino lost. What did he have to do?”
“Oh, sorry again,” said Aiba. “I will try not to get distracted. Hmm, which bet are we talking about?”
Ohno tried not to sigh. “The bet you have with Nino,”
“Yes…” said Aiba. “We have two bets today, you know. Nino lost both. Which one do you want to know?”
“The Othello bet,”
“Oh yes… Nino lost so he has to call you,”
“So, why am I talking to you instead of Nino?”
His confusion was evident. If he sounds rude to Aiba, he didn’t care.
“I know, right?” Aiba was still cheerful despite Ohno’s tone. “Nino is sneaky. Whenever he lost, he always has a way to escape punishment. Like this morning, he lost so he should ask you out. But…”
“AIBAAAAAAAA!!!!!”
A loud voice yelling Aiba’s name could be heard from the other end of the line. It sounded a lot like Nino’s voice. Ohno had to put the phone away because of how loud his voice was. Even so, he could still hear it and judging by the look on his friend’s face, they also heard it.
“See…” Jun said. “He is rude. Always yelling. No respect for others around him,”
Rolling his eyes, the man then went to the kitchen with their dishes. Sho remained there, telling Ohno to ignore Jun.
Well, Ohno would do that even without the advice from Sho. He put the phone on his ear again, determined not to let Aiba get distracted again.
“Aiba-chan, are you still there?”
“He’s not,” came the cold reply that made Ohno smile. It was Nino’s voice. “I sent him away to stop him from spouting nonsense,”
“Nino!” He didn’t bother to hide how happy he was to hear Nino’s voice. “Have you had your dinner? What did you eat?”
“None of your business,”
Ohno flinched when he heard the cold response from Nino. Granted, they were not friends. Still, why would Nino be so hostile to him?
“Listen, Ohno-san,” continued Nino. “I have a few things to tell you. Please listen without interrupting me. First, don’t call me Nino. Call me Ninomiya-san just like everyone in the office. Secondly, we’re co-workers, not friends. I will only talk to you about work. If you talk to me about something else, I will ignore you,”
And, just like that, Nino ended the call, leaving Ohno speechless.
Aiba stayed silent as he watched Nino. That was harsh and he felt bad for Ohno. But, there was nothing he could do about it. Nino wouldn’t let anyone enter his personal bubble anymore. Aiba was lucky to be able to enter it before Nino had closed it. Nino had suffered for a while now. Aiba didn’t know the full story because Nino refused to tell him anything. But, he knew the person responsible for the suffering. How he wished he could help Nino… Unfortunately, Nino won’t let him.
Ohno wasn’t the first person to show interest in Nino. Just look at Nino. He is a looker. Wherever he goes, people will be looking at him. But, Nino was a genius at pushing people away. He wouldn’t let anyone in. Aiba had hoped it would be different with Ohno. When he saw the two of them in the pantry earlier, Nino seemed comfortable being alone with Ohno. The man even made his friend eat, something that even Aiba had trouble doing. He really thought it would be different this time. Alas, he was proven wrong. With the way Nino talked to Ohno earlier, no doubt Ohno would give up.
A/N: Will Ohno give up? We'll see.